


Then We Will Dance

by LuckyNumberMe



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Emotional Baggage, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, Not Canon Compliant, Nymphs & Dryads, Other, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Self-Acceptance, Self-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-05-18 16:09:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19337953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuckyNumberMe/pseuds/LuckyNumberMe
Summary: Short AU series about you (a drayad) and Muriel learning how to heal yourselves. A forest fire pushes the two of you together. And stuck in your human form, you'll have to learn quickly about what it means to be person. What can people do with trauma other than care for it? At the end of the day, hopefully we can dance.





	1. Things We Lost

**Author's Note:**

> Whoop whoop! Until I can rework the pre-canon/ post Canon Muriel piece, here's a shorter 5 episode series on self compassion, love, and processing trauma. Yes, there will be love, but first our babies gotta love themselves ♥️

It’s a sticky summer night when the young lovers find their way into your woods.  The sun is nearly set. You have come to enjoy watching the idiosyncrasies of human interaction. Stumbling, handing each other stray wood, each trying to strike a fire and laughing when they finally succeed. There’s something so sweet, so magical about such interactions. Each year this happens. It brings you joy to see humans fall in love again and again.

 It has been a long time since you had human arms, and even longer since you whispered softnesses into hair or wound around shaking knees. These two were particularly affectionate, peppering kisses and combing hair, and lounging freely across each other.  Even after they have left your woods, you wonder at how strange it must be to be so … alone as a human. You and your trees are bound together at the roots. There is no life without separation for you. But humans choose to connect. They choose to reach out, to assist, to enjoy each other. A part of you envies them for it.

You are so lost in your imagination that you don’t notice the fire licking its way through dead leaves. You don’t notice the smokey air or the whispers of the trees around you. You don’t feel their roots tremble – until a sharp pain stings you into consciousness.

Your branches sizzle, sap sparking and cracking through your layers. Trying to focus, you reach your energy out to feel fire biting through the trees in your grove. It is only then that their silent screams come ringing through your roots.

Your grove. Your trees.  _Your fault_.

Night winds rip the flames higher and higher. Fear and excruciating pain have paralyzed for too long. Centering your energies, you slide life from your trunk down to the Earth. You can’t remember the last time you used your human form, and it feels so soft, so foreign on the scorching Earth. Summoning water from the nearby stream and dirt from the ground, you begin to put out the flames of your neighboring trees. Your practiced limbs summon streams of water to jet into the grove. You can do this, you’ve done this before. Limbs lift dirt and drop it, suffocating flames as trees sizzle out. You can do this.  A handful of trees into the process, your streams of Earth and water turn to a slow trickle.  _This cannot be good._

You turn to see your trunk… but you don’t. Only scarlet is visible against the night. Without your tree, you have no source to draw power from. You are cut off from your grove, your roots, everything that gives you strength. All energy – all hope for fixing this disaster the humans started– drains from you. You cry out. Knees buckle. Streams of water and earth weaken and fall. The smoke traps your cries midthroat and the truth of the moment finally seeps in.

It is too much fire. it is too much smoke.  It is too strong. You have nothing left to stop it.  The fire moves from tree to tree and you cannot even mourn for your companions. So you crumple. You watch your home disappear. There is nothing left to do. You can’t stop it or even fight it now. You’ve failed. You’ve lost everything.

Fingers wind around what once were your roots, feeling the hot earth between them once more. You feel the beat of the forest’s heart thrum dangerously fast. You feel it quicken at your collapse, the land realizing that its designated guard has fallen. You feel a web of roots futilely squirm deeper to avoid the heat. And you feel something else.

Thumping.

Running feet– _heavy feet._  

 _What kind of animal would run towards a fire?_ A huge figure lumbers into your clearing, cloth wound tight around its head.

_A human?_


	2. We Burn Them Behind Us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Your trees are dying and you are stuck in your human form, lying at their roots. What can you do for them when you can't even save yourself from this fire? What reparations can be made for such a loss?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whomp whomp, here's some more angst! I promise next week will be mostly Muri content. We already know what Muri's trauma is, so these first couple chapters have been to set up yours.   
> Stay tuned next week for more angst and wholesomeness!

The human speeds towards your grove, a number of buckets in hand. The figure moves diligently towards the reaches of the flames setting counter fires and tossing something from the buckets to stifle it. 

 

You move to help, to summon more water, more dirt. Forgetting the poisonous air, you inhale only smoke and ash-- your new human throat burning and choking. You cannot help but remember that these are the ashes of your comapanions. Your companions who you didn't protect. Who you let die in fire and smoke. It's only fair that you-- 

This thought is cut off by the sudden presence of the human at your side. Your coughs must have drawn its attention and verdant eyes meet yours. 

 

Wait, is this...? You almost don't recognize it without the wolf pup at its heels. This is the human who helped the injured rabbits last spring. Who brought them food when their mother disappeared. Who gave them what they needed to grow. The steady movements of its hands and the gentleness with which it approaches you is unmistakable. This is the Protector of the forest.

 

Without hesitation, it picks you up and rushes you out to the clearing, far from the flames. Once it returns to the grove to continue its work, you crawl to the edge of the clearing.  Soft hands land on sturdy bark.

 

 As the counter fires take effect and begin to eat other, you whisper thanks and comfort to your trees. You push what's left of your energy through the roots, reminding everyone that this will be over soon. You sing to them a lullaby-- low and cloying. You feel the cries of your breathren peter out. The fire dies and your song fades away. When you finally look up, the human is before you, an expression of utter bewilderment on its face. 

 

It had no trepidation when addressing the carnage in your grove. But now for some reason, its mouth opens and closes soundlessly. You stand, stretching your new form to its full height. And you are surprised that the human is still significantly taller than you. Are all humans this large? 

 

It still hasn't spoken or moved. You reach a tentative arm towards its own, squeezing gently, letting gratefulness flow into it. It tenses at the sudden contact but doesn't pull away. Are all humans this warm? Even after all the pain and loss, the heat of a human body feels so welcoming.

 

 "Thank you. You saved many of us. We are grateful." 

 

" 'welcome" it lets out, and shuffles off your hand. Oh you don't know human customs, you're hoping you haven't offended it when it says, "Are you hurt?" 

 

You look to see your feet are blistering and red. That's not ideal. Now this form is wounded, too. Your feet ache like the deep frosts of winter and the sting of summer nettles all at once. You are lost in a frantic haze thick with shame, sorrow, and pain. As you continue to lay, the human tries a different question, "Can you walk?"

 

 You attempt to stand, but as soon as you shift weight, you find yourself on the ground again. The haziness of your surroundings increases rapidly now. Although it's been an aeon since you had feet of your own, you know that this is not supposed to happen. Two large limbs come in and scoop you up. In this state, you think they feel rather like branches-- sturdy. welcoming. Your face is so warm nestled into its chest and there's a thrumming inside. It sounds so very much like the beating core of the forest, you miss what the creature says. 

 

"My apologies, did you speak?" 

 

"Is this okay?" You nod in response. How strange. The human's face seem to have changed to a darker color. Your slipping mind idly wonders if your human form can change color as well. 

 

 "Yes, thank you." It nods and moves the two of you away from the forest. Your forest. So much of it is gone. You should have protected them. And here you are, leaving them alone to mourn. You know you cannot help anything till your tree has healed and you can once again step into it. Still, a dozen thoughts ring through you

 

_you should have_

_you could have_

_why didn't you_

 

With each thought, your body feels weaker.  You hardly even notice when the human opens a door to its hut. And you are unconscious by the time they lay you on a pile of furs. Your mind fills with memories of smoke, of sparking sap, of the groans of the dying. 

 

_your fault_

_your fault_

_your fault_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, my loves!! As always, smash that kudos/comment button if you enjoyed!
> 
> Your interactions give me literal months of life 😂 stay excellent out there my nerds ♥️

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!! You can find me on Tumblr @asluckywouldhaveit. 
> 
> Smash that kudos or comment button if you liked this! It'll give me the courage to keep this stuff going ♥️♥️


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